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Many young Vietnamese have turned to vocational schools shortly after their university admission, believing that it is better to be a skilled worker than an incapable college graduate.

With so many fresh graduates, even those with master’s degree failing to land a suitable job or having to accept work in fields that have nothing to do with the majors in which they are professionally trained, many Vietnamese youth are seeing a better future in vocational schools.

Job ensured after graduation

At the Dung Quat Vocational College of Technique and Technology, in the central province of Quang Ngai, Tuoi Tre (Youth) newspaper met four young men who had left their university admissions behind in order to become a worker.

Two of them had been admitted to Quy Nhon University in the south-central province of Binh Dinh, one to the University of Economics, Ho Chi Minh City and another to the Ho Chi Minh City University of Culture.

But none of these young men, all hailing from the Central Highlands province of Dak Lak, will begin their student life.

Instead, they have applied for a high-quality program at the Dung Quat vocational college and will become skilled auto mechanic engineers after three years.

Tin said he had worked as a mechanic in Ho Chi Minh City and made VND5 million ($220) a month “even though I was not really skilled.”

“So I wanted to improve my skills and enrich my knowledge at the Dung Quat vocational college,” he said.

“After graduation, I will work in Japan as some of the vocational school graduates have found good jobs with high income there.”

According to experts, one of the main reasons for the glut of university graduates unable to find a suitable position is that what they are trained is of little use in the actual job market.

“Many business leaders have pointed out that the curricula of many universities in Vietnam are problematic and outdated,” Prof. Truong Nguyen Thanh, vice chancellor of Hoa Sen University in Ho Chi Minh City, told Thanh Nien (Young People) newspaper.

“While technology is changing rapidly – we have a new piece of tech every six months or a year – what is taught in the four-year university program [in Vietnam] remains unchanged for decades.”

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